


heart tattoo

by tampa_bae_frightening (steven_damnkos)



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-04
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-08-27 07:58:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8393515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steven_damnkos/pseuds/tampa_bae_frightening
Summary: Matt has seen his soul mark before. It's the latest issue causing drama in Auston's family.





	

**Author's Note:**

> lately all I do is get ideas for fics from songs and they're all about Auston. (I have more fics in progress)
> 
> title from [Heart Tattoo](https://youtu.be/LNbSDPa4Fns) by Joyce Manor
> 
>  
> 
> I'm sorry if anyone seems out of character, this is the soulmate/high school garage band AU no one asked for. it's also my first hockey RPF work 
> 
>  
> 
> this is unbeta'd trash, please enjoy.

     Most days, Matt felt like his soulmark would never appear. He would check his entire body in the mirror every morning, but never found anything. It would frustrate Matt endlessly until he remembered Auston didn't have his either. The solidarity of his best friend lacking a mark was comforting.

     Other days, Matt just figured he was a Blank, and a mark would never appear on him. He settled into that kind of thinking more regularly, eventually accepting it as fact. Matt just didn't have a soulmate.

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     Matt slouched on the couch in Auston's garage, tuning his guitar, trying not to listen to Brian's yelling. He plucked out notes to drown it out, finally settling on practicing that one slow Of Mice & Men song Auston really liked, frowning when it didn't sound quite right. Auston could play it; he'd practiced the whole song over and over again until Matt had wanted to puke from hearing it so many times. He preferred to hear Auston sing it, true emotions coloring his voice, playing it on his ancient acoustic guitar. Matt let out a sigh, determined to work at the song until it was perfect. The door to kitchen opened, Auston stepping through and slamming it behind him, the yelling finally over with. Matt let out a snort, holding his guitar out of reach of Auston's feet as his friend flopped down on the worn out couch. "What's got your dad so heated?"

     Auston let out a loud groan, pulling his beanie down to cover his face before holding up his left arm. He pushed up the sleeve of his ratty flannel, revealing a fresh tattoo just below the crook of his elbow. Matt sat up excitedly, sitting his guitar in the stand beside the couch. "Dude! When did you get that!?" He grabbed Auston's arm, careful not to squeeze the tattoo; Auston bruised pretty easily and it already looked pretty bad. Matt looked closer at it, frowning. "Bro, it looks like shit." It was a sort of crooked, irregular heart, the red ink smudged a little outside of the black outline.

     Auston sat up, taking his arm back with a grin. "That's the point! It's supposed to be bad. I had it done after school; it's why i didn't come over. The cashier at the skate shop knows this guy who does hand poke tattoos for pretty cheap, think his name was Chase or maybe Chris, I don't know, and she gave me his number." He let out a laugh. "Dude did it on his kitchen table, it was so surreal. He had a bunch of friends sitting on his couch doing bong rips and watching him stab me in the arm."

     Matt started laughing too, shaking his head in disbelief. "He fucking colored outside of the lines, though."

     Auston shook his head, pulling his sleeve down. "The outline was an attempt to salvage it after he tried to freehand it." He started laughing harder, Matt joining in.

     Matt leaned against Auston, wiping tears from his eyes. "Auston, you're my friend and I love you, but you're a fucking idiot."

     Auston nodded in agreement, laughing too hard to speak.

     In the kitchen, Ema stood beside the door, listening to the boys laughing with a small smile on her face. She turned to Brian, putting her hands on his shoulders. "You're too hard on him. He's young and you've got to let him make mistakes. You know he didn't do it just to make you mad." Her husband let out a little grunt in response, not ready to calm down yet. Ema frowned, patting his shoulder before walking out of the room.

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     A few days later, Matt sat on their usual table in the school courtyard, the metal already warm in the early morning sunlight. A commotion came from the other side of the space; he turned his snapback around, shielding his eyes so he could see. Matt witnessed Auston just barely miss a group of popular girls, maneuvering around them on his board. He was breaking several rules by riding his skateboard in the courtyard but the nearest security guard only yelled to 'be careful'. Auston hopped off his board, picking it up before rushing over to Matt. The grin on Auston's face was manic, a level of excitement Matt hadn't seen since Warped Tour. "Guess what?!"

     Matt laughed, the extra punctuation audible in Auston's voice. "What?"

     Auston was practically vibrating with excitement. "I got my soulmark last night. Bre saw it this morning when I passed her on the way to the bathroom."

     Matt's jaw dropped, smacking Auston's arm. "No shit? That's rad! Congrats, dude." He smiled, sliding down the table and making room for Auston to sit.

     Auston shifted his backpack on his shoulder, looking at Matt with a big grin. "Wanna see it?"

     Matt was floored. He and Auston were practically joined at the hip, but he couldn't believe that Auston trusted him enough to show him something as personal as a soulmark. "Wow. Yeah, dude. Thanks." Matt picked up his own backpack and board, following Auston to the bathroom, stopping off at their lockers to put away their boards first.

     In the bathroom, Matt held Auston's backpack as the other boy took off his shirt, turning his back towards Matt. "Alexandria said it's a hand mirror. I thought it might be a hairbrush or something."

     Matt looked closer, squinting in the dim light. "I think Alex was right. It's a mirror, but shaped like a heart." The mark was situated between Auston's shoulder blades, dark and vivid, the design full of strange swirls. Matt felt a now unfamiliar wave of pain, remembering his own lack of a mark. He smiled a little sadly, offering Auston his backpack.

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     A few months after Auston's mark appeared, one of the girls their bassist Christian knew, Anna, asked them to play a party she was throwing while her parents were out of town. Auston had been bouncing around all day, excited by the prospect of their first 'real' show and a keg.

     Matt had been rolling his eyes all day, Auston's excitement endearing but tiring. At lunch, he threw a fry at Auston's face, getting his attention. "Dude. We're playing a party for maybe 50 bucks and some beer. Just make sure you get there early so we can set up and rehearse..."

     Auston nodded, reaching for Matt's fries. "Brody is borrowing his dad's truck for our gear, and Christian lives near Anna, so he's going to pick up his guitar after school and go over extra early." He grabbed a huge handful of fries, shoveling half of them into his mouth.

     Matt wrinkled his nose, grinning. "That's attractive..." He laughed, moving his food out of Auston's long reach.

     Auston's cheeks bulged with potato as he gave Matt the finger. He picked up his backpack, taking out an old spiral notebook and a pen. "We need a set list... what do you think?"

     "I think you shouldn't talk with your mouth full, but definitely the song you wrote about your tattoo." Matt picked up a fry, chewing it thoughtfully. "The Sum 41 song Brody made us learn would be good..."

     Auston frowned, finally swallowing his food. "I don't like that one, though."

     "It sounds good, that's what matters. We have it down perfectly, and it's a pop punk classic, asshole." Matt made a face, thinking about all the songs they could play.

      Auston let out a huff, scribbling The Hell Song down. "Brody is going to be so smug."

     There was a loud bang as a tray slammed down on the table. "Me, smug? Damn right." Brody dropped into the seat next to Auston, reaching for the notebook. "What are you assholes doing anyway?" 

Matt gestured towards the notebook with his water bottle, looking at the food lines. "Set list. Think I'll be able to grab some pizza before lunch is over?"

Brody took the pen from Auston, writing down Downfall Of Us All. "Nah, lines are still long. Sammi and I got in late because she had to stop by the library and it took forever to get food." 

Matt frowned, turning back to his friends. "The wonders of public school..." He picked at his fries, watching as Auston and Brody bickered, passing the notebook back and forth. After a few minutes, Matt spoke up. "Can we do Note To Self or Worlds Away?"

A look of understanding crossed Auston's face, and he squeezed both songs into the list as Brody groaned. "Okay, that should be enough."

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Hours later, they all stood on Anna's back deck, instruments in hand, looking at a bunch of already tipsy classmates crammed into the backyard. Auston nervously chewed on his lip ring, looking over at Matt. He gave Auston a nod and what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Auston turned back towards the crowd, taking a deep breath before hitting the first chord. "I want a heart tattoo, I want it to hurt really bad..." 

Everyone fell in behind him, each song blurring into the next, their set finished before they even realized it. Auston was beaming, breathing heavily and sweating. "Thank you! We're Dropped Gloves and we're playing the talent show next month!" 

After they had broken down their gear and packed it back into the truck, the guys had mostly split up and dissolved into the party. Auston was four beers in, laughing and draping himself all over Matt. They were sitting under a tree in the front yard, away from the party noise. Matt wasn't even sure what Auston was laughing at, choosing to just roll his eyes and shift his friend off of him so he could put his back against the tree. "You're so drunk, dude."

Auston let out an offended noise, flopping across Matt's lap. "'M not drunk. Jus' having a good time."

Matt started to feel a weird stinging pain on his back, wiggling his shoulders to try and scratch it against the tree, thinking it was just another insect bite. "You're a fuckin' lightweight. You've had like four drinks and you're already plastered. Pull it together and we'll swing by Taco Bell on the way home." 

Auston snuggled into Matt's thigh. "Gonna order like twelve Dorito tacos..." 

Matt laughed, pulling Auston's beanie off, carding his fingers through the sweaty hair underneath. "I swear if you puke tacos all over my mom's car, I'll end you." The stinging continued, Matt's squirming doing nothing to help. 

Auston waved his hand in the air, seemingly brushing away Auston's words. "Not gonna puke."

The pain intensified, finally driving Matt to extract himself from under Auston, taking off his shirt and turning around. "I know you're practically useless right now, but can you look at my back? I think something on the tree stung me and it hurts."

Auston frowned at having to stand up, taking his phone out of his pocket, unlocking it and pointing the screen towards Matt's back. He squinted at it for a minute, confused. "'s not a bug bite. 'S my tattoo..." 

Matt whirled around, looking at Auston with wide eyes. "What do you mean, it's your tattoo?" He started making long strides towards the house, Auston stumbling after him. Matt weaved through the people blocking the hallway, shoving his way into the closest bathroom and slamming the door. He twisted around, trying to see what was between his shoulders, frustrating himself. Raiding the drawers, Matt came across a hand mirror. He held it up, reflecting his back into the vanity mirror. A weird noise escaped him, turning into a strangled laugh. Auston's shitty tattoo had appeared between his shoulder blades, more vivid than the one on Auston's arm. 

Matt sat on the counter top, still clutching the hand mirror in disbelief. He wasn't a Blank. His soulmark had appeared, and it was his best friend's tattoo. Matt squeezed the mirror tighter, trying to figure out why that had happened, when something had caught his attention. The mirror's handle was textured, and it was digging into his palm. He looked down at it, eyes widening in recognition, more hysterical laughter bubbling out of him. Matt was holding a mirror with a pewter frame, a swirling pattern of roses tooled into the metal; the mark that had appeared on Auston's back. He slid to the floor with a thump, laughing wildly. 

Auston knocked on the door before crashing into the bathroom. "Are you okay?" He sat down beside Matt, brow furrowed in concern. 

Matt held up the mirror, giggling. "We're soulmates." 

Auston stared at the mirror, the spark of recognition in his eyes. "That's my mark. Your mark is my tattoo..." He laid his head in Matt's lap again, taking the mirror and holding it against his chest. "So. We're soulmates. That doesn't mean anything has to change. Drunk or not, I fuckin' care about you Matty. You're my best friend, and I'd do anything for you. I'm glad you're my soulmate, honestly. I don't want anyone else." 

Matt's mouth hung open in disbelief, but Auston plowed on. "We spend so much time together, I'm pretty sure everyone already thought we were soulmates. Now, put your stupid fucking Andy Black," he made a face, "shirt back on and let's go get that Taco Bell you promised me. I still want my twelve Dorito tacos." Auston stood up, offering Matt a hand. He pulled Matt up with a laugh, tucking the mirror into his back pocket. 

Matt looked scandalized as he put his shirt back on. "You're stealing the mirror?"

Auston shrugged, tugging his beanie over his messy hair. "It's my soulmark, I think I'm entitled to it." 

Matt shook his head, grabbing Auston's sleeve with a grin and pulling him out of the bathroom. "Come on, loser..."

Auston followed after him, laughing. "Shut up."

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [tumblr](http://steven-damnkos.tumblr.com) to talk hockey
> 
> comments and concrit welcome. 
> 
> also, if anyone wants to be my beta, shoot me an ask!!!


End file.
